The drivers' championship leaders, Grönholm and Hirvonen, were
the first drivers on road and lost time as they had to sweep the
loose gravel. They were followed by Loeb, who was able to keep
close to Subaru's Petter Solberg,
who benefited from his better starting position during the first
three stages. However, Solberg, in the new Subaru Impreza WRC 07, had to
retire at the start of SS6 giving the lead to Loeb.[1] After
the first day, Ford identified and fixed a sensory fault in
Grönholm's car.[2] The
problem had caused lack of engine power and troubled the Finn: "In
the morning, I was sweeping. In the afternoon, I was sleeping".[3] The
second leg saw Grönholm quickly climb to second place, but Loeb
continued setting top times and extended his lead to Grönholm from
43 to 60 seconds. Hirvonen, Chris Atkinson and Dani Sordo battled for the third place.
Hirvonen was the fastest driver on the final day and secured the
last podium position, ahead of Sordo, Atkinson, Manfred Stohl, Jari-Matti
Latvala and Matthew Wilson. Loeb took the win 55.8
seconds clear of Grönholm.[4]